14.03.2002

Campaign launched

Teesside Socialist Alliance launched its campaign for the Middlesbrough mayoral election at a public meeting on Monday March 11. SA candidate Jeff Fowler and Janet Alder of the Justice for Christopher Alder campaign shared a platform on 'law and order', covering the issue of policing and law enforcement in the UK. Both the upcoming trial of police officers for the 'unjust killing' of Christopher Alder in custody at Hull Police Station, and the high-profile mayoral campaign of ex-police populist Ray Mallon should have ensured the alliance a healthy turnout at the event. Sadly, however, less than 20 people showed up, indicating the organisational work the SA in Teesside needs to undertake. Comrade Fowler spoke of the nature of the police and legal system in capitalist society, and commented on the superficial appeal which Mallon's overtly draconian 'zero tolerance' policing methods may have to many working class people. Denouncing their barbarism and short-sightedness, however, he asserted that the police hold no answers for working class communities. Policing, he said, is "a matter of trust" and, as the history of the workers' and trade union movement has shown, the police cannot be trusted. Janet Alder, Christopher's sister, gave a harrowing and thought-provoking account of her family's struggle against an anti-working class system which was, until recently, to deny them even the chance of official retribution for the horrific murder of her brother in the form of a trial. She spoke of how the police had forced her brother out of a Hull hospital, stripped him practically naked, dragged him into a police station and joked as he lay unconscious on the floor, suffering until his death. The horror of her account reflected the sheer inhumanity which is intrinsic in the ideology of any state police force of the ruling class. Her story reflected not only the racism which plagues the officially anti-racist state prosecution system, but also the very nature of the police themselves - an institution beyond reform. In the debate which followed, a number of comrades expressed their own perspectives on the issue of law and order. Mehdi Husseni, a leading local Asian community member, described recent attempts to allow the police more powers as "frightening", and denounced the critical support which has been given by black community leaders in some areas of central London for the increased use of 'stop and search'. He also recalled a similar case to that of Christopher Alder, in which a local Asian resident died in police custody, resulting in no prosecution. The violation of our rights is the legacy of zero-tolerance policing, he said. Comrade Alan Feasby noted that such measures tend to achieve the opposite effect to that intended. Teesside Socialist Alliance welcomes the Christopher Alder Campaign, and plans to offer its unequivocal support both before and during the trial, which begins on April 10. We are now building for a screening of the film Injustice in early April, which charters the struggles of families to win redress for those who have died at the hands of UK police. James Bull